30 Steve Jobs Quotes That Will Inspire You To Follow Your Passion

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has faced plenty of adversity – and controversy – during his lifetime. While his road to success wasn’t a simple one, he inspired many people to embrace their uniqueness and follow their passions, as he had done. Even after his death, he is still remembered as one of the most iconic men to influence the way we view technology today.

Steve Jobs: Early Life

Born to parents Abdulfattah “John” Jandali and Joanne Carole Schieble on February 24, 1955, the then unnamed Jobs was put up for adoption after his birth. Although it wasn’t an easy decision for his biological parents, several factors (such as them being only 23 at that time and Joanne’s parents being against their union) contributed to that fate. He was later adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs, and given the name Steven Paul Jobs.

It was obvious even during his youth that he was an intelligent and gifted child. Jobs would play pranks on his teachers, and fought with constant frustrations with formal schooling. Jobs’s adoptive father, Paul, would spend time with him working on electronics at their family garage. This activity would in fact, awaken his interest in computers and pave the way for the future Steve Jobs.

After some effort into getting him to take his studies seriously, the family decided to move to Los Altos, California to allow Jobs to change schools. It was here that he met Bill Fernandez, an electronics hobbyist and his first friend at his new school. It was also Bill who introduced Jobs to Steve Wozniak, future Apple co-founder.

During this time he would cultivate two primary interests: electronics and art. Although his friendship with Bill wouldn’t last, Jobs would manage to keep Wozniak inside his small circle of friends, which also included his first girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan. After graduating from Homestead High School, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon but dropped out six months later. However, he did keep on attending creative classes, one of which was calligraphy taught by Robert Palladino.

Sometime around 1973, Steve Jobs was hired by Atari as a technician. He saved up his money and went on a trip to India to seek enlightenment. He went home after seven months and came back to work for Atari, reuniting with Wozniak as well. When Wozniak developed ‘the blue box’, a contraption that allowed for free long-distance phone calls, Jobs realized that they could take on the world.

Steve Jobs: Later Years

The partnership between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak was magical: Wozniak would develop the hardware and Jobs would sell them. Apple was born at the garage of Jobs’ Los Altos home. Their first successful commercially sold product, the Apple II, was introduced in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire. It was also one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputer products at that time.

Jobs and Wozniak revolutionized not only the way that computers are sold to the mass market, but they also broke an ‘age glass ceiling’ for starting their own business at a young age.

Even though Jobs left Apple in 1985, he returned to revive the company and transform the way people consume electronic products. Apple’s most popular products, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, continue to set the stage for what modern electronics should look and how they should perform.

Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011 after a hard battle with pancreatic cancer for almost 10 years. Though his life was riddled with controversy, he left a legacy that millions of young dreamers and entrepreneurs follow today. See what wisdom you can glean from these Steve Jobs quotes.

Posted by Igor Ovsyannykov

I'm a digital nomad and entrepreneur bouncing around South East Asia. When I'm not working here, I'm out taking photos or writing travel articles for Nipananlifestyle.com. Follow me on Instagram: @igorovsyannykov